US explains 'need' for more Pacific ships
Source: Agencies |
June 4, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited a deep-water Vietnamese port near the South China Sea yesterday, calling access to such harbors "critical" as the US shifts 60 percent of its warships to the Asia-Pacific by 2020.
Panetta flew to Cam Ranh Bay, a deep-water harbor about 720 kilometers south of China, just a day after he spelled out details of a new US military strategy that calls for a shift in focus to the Pacific.
Chinese Lieutenant General Ren Haiquan noted the US decision to increase the number of warships in the Pacific during remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore yesterday.
"First, we should not treat this as a disaster," Ren said. "I believe this is the United States' response to its own national interests, its fiscal difficulties and global security developments."
Panetta was the most senior US official to visit Cam Ranh Bay since the Vietnam War, when it served as a key US logistic hub. Currently, the port only does maintenance on US cargo vessels but not warships. No US warships have visited it since the war.
Panetta said his visit was symbolic of how far the two countries have come since they normalized relations 17 years ago and that partnerships with countries like Vietnam were critical to the new US military strategy.
"We are rebalancing our forces to the Asia-Pacific ... so that in the future, 60 percent of our forces will be located in this region," he said.
"For that reason, it will be particularly important to be able to ... work with partners like Vietnam to be able to use harbors like this as we move our ships from our ports on the West Coast towards our stations here in the Pacific."
"We are stressing our effort to try to develop partnerships with countries in this region, to develop their capabilities so that they can better defend and secure themselves," he said.
He underscored the importance of cooperating with the Association of South East Asian Nations to develop a code of conduct that countries in the region could abide by in settling disputes and ensuring maritime and navigational rights.
Panetta cited a range of areas in which he was looking to expand cooperation with Vietnam, including humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and peacekeeping operations.
"In particular we want to work with Vietnam on critical maritime issues, including a code of conduct focusing on the South China Sea and also working to improve freedom of navigation in our oceans," he said.
At the Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore announced it had agreed in principle to a US request to deploy up to four littoral combat ships to the island state on a rotational basis.
Yesterday, a member of Panetta's delegation, General Martin Dempsey, traveled to the Philippines which is in talks about a rotational US deployment there.
Panetta flew to Cam Ranh Bay, a deep-water harbor about 720 kilometers south of China, just a day after he spelled out details of a new US military strategy that calls for a shift in focus to the Pacific.
Chinese Lieutenant General Ren Haiquan noted the US decision to increase the number of warships in the Pacific during remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore yesterday.
"First, we should not treat this as a disaster," Ren said. "I believe this is the United States' response to its own national interests, its fiscal difficulties and global security developments."
Panetta was the most senior US official to visit Cam Ranh Bay since the Vietnam War, when it served as a key US logistic hub. Currently, the port only does maintenance on US cargo vessels but not warships. No US warships have visited it since the war.
Panetta said his visit was symbolic of how far the two countries have come since they normalized relations 17 years ago and that partnerships with countries like Vietnam were critical to the new US military strategy.
"We are rebalancing our forces to the Asia-Pacific ... so that in the future, 60 percent of our forces will be located in this region," he said.
"For that reason, it will be particularly important to be able to ... work with partners like Vietnam to be able to use harbors like this as we move our ships from our ports on the West Coast towards our stations here in the Pacific."
"We are stressing our effort to try to develop partnerships with countries in this region, to develop their capabilities so that they can better defend and secure themselves," he said.
He underscored the importance of cooperating with the Association of South East Asian Nations to develop a code of conduct that countries in the region could abide by in settling disputes and ensuring maritime and navigational rights.
Panetta cited a range of areas in which he was looking to expand cooperation with Vietnam, including humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and peacekeeping operations.
"In particular we want to work with Vietnam on critical maritime issues, including a code of conduct focusing on the South China Sea and also working to improve freedom of navigation in our oceans," he said.
At the Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore announced it had agreed in principle to a US request to deploy up to four littoral combat ships to the island state on a rotational basis.
Yesterday, a member of Panetta's delegation, General Martin Dempsey, traveled to the Philippines which is in talks about a rotational US deployment there.
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